February 6, 2012

Hey Gringlandias!

That is awesome that you are sending the Greenie Package. I hope he gets it. I will try and explain it to him. Sounds like some cool object lesson that you are going to send us. That will be perfect for training and maybe even for District Meetings.

Elder Batz and I don’t have too many photos, we have been pretty busy this week. I had Leader Council on Wednesday, Interviews on Thursday and Zone Conference on Friday. Ha ha so we have been packed. But we will take more photos. The photos I sent are a human pyramid we did in the Interview Conference to show why "Fundamentals" are so important.

We had a good experience yesterday. So sometimes in the mission you just have one of those days. You know, when it seems like everything is going bad. People reject you, all your appointments fall, your backpack starts getting heavy and your feet hurt and it seems like nothing is going right. Here in Nicaragua it’s called un día Salado. A "Salty" day. 

Well, yesterday was a pretty "Salty" day. We got up and left the house extra early to go pass by our families to make sure the adversary didn’t throw anything in the way so that they wouldn’t come to church. But in short, we ended up having extra time on our hands before church started. We even found one family (our most positive for being baptized this month) in the street on the way to their house. 

But our one family was dressed up and everything and we asked them where they are going, church doesn’t start for another 2 hours. And they told us that the family had called with work and so they were going to another city for the day to work. And then they told us they were talking and that they decided that they didn’t want to talk to us anymore. So we shared our testimonies and gave them the special edition Liahona about the Book of Mormon that we brought for them.

In short, not all the families came to church and for the rest of the day all of our appointments fell and we were pretty salty. BUT, in spite of that, we didn’t lose hope and decided we needed more faith. And we decided that we needed to find a new family before going to eat dinner and we did it!

We found a really nice new family, we explained why we were there and they invited us in. We talked about the plan of salvation with them and it turns out that the missionaries even lived in the house of the grandma a couple years ago. It was great. And at Dinner we decided that instead of getting "salted" we needed to be the Salt of the world and keep finding chosen families. Because when the life gives you rice and beans... you got to make Gallo Pinto.

Um, yeah I think I’ve had companions celebrate birthdays while we were together, but only with one or two. I think with Elder Valenzuela we went to eat pizza. You know with most of my compañeros their birthdays have not been in our time together (max time together has been 3 months).

Yes, President kept me as the District Leader. Which makes a little more work. Especially because I do divisions with the district and Elder Batz is still getting to know the area. In our District are Elder Muzo and Elder Nielson (Zone Leaders) Elder Hardy and Elder Batz, Elder Buc (training) and Elder Bray (New, from California), Elder Burrola and Elder Reyes, and the Sisters Hermana Vasquez and Hermana Rivas.

Sick days? NO!!! There are no sick days. I have been great. And with my new compañero we even did exercise today and we are planning to keep it up.

Hannah asked if I have had any jungle diseases? Ha ha no never anything too weird. The worst Jungle disease that I have gotten is the Picazón. Or the "Itches." Ha ha but that just means I should probably wash my sheets, put my mattress in the sun and put baby powder where it itches after taking a shower. But the worst I have heard of is that of a missionary getting is Dengue Fever. That’s no fun. But here where I am there aren’t many mosquitoes.

Hey I love you so much, thanks for the updates and the great object lesson Idea. I think I am going to use it tonight.

Love,

Elder Hardy

ps I love you

November 28, 2011

Gobble Gobble!

Looks like Thanksgiving dinner was delicious! And how was Mom´s Birthday?

I think that is great that Grandma and Grandpa Weiler were able to come too. I am so grateful for my Grandparents (from both sides) and for their examples and their love. I hope Grandpa Weiler is doing good. I could never be able to repay the blessing that I had to spend I little bit of time with him before going on the mission. It really helped me out, and I enjoyed the company of him more than anyone knows.

I am really hoping and praying for his health, and that he can make it around for a bit more so I can give him a hug and tell him how grateful I am for him. He has fought a good fight if you ask me and his legacy will live on through me, he has left a lasting impression on my life.

My new comps name is Elder Axel Antonio Gaytan Real. He is Nicaraguan! Ha ha well, by birth only I think. He told me he left Nicaragua when he was very little and grew up in El Salvador. He is a big guy, and we are getting along great. He also eats a lot. He is a convert, and is sealed in the temple with his adopted family. And has a great testimony.

Being District Leader is fine. I don’t think I am doing all that great. But I think that is one of the problems, I should have more confidence. So I am going to work on that this week.

The missionaries are good, but we haven’t had any families come to church for the last couple weeks. So that would be great if you guys could pray for us here. (I know you already do). There are 10 missionaries (2 sisters) in my District, including me. And yeah, actually Elder Valenzuela and Elder Muzo are in my District ha ha. So that is great.

Well, I actually haven’t made any plans for Christmas. That might be tough to work out with the converts and investigators. We will probably have to go to various houses Christmas night.

What am I thankful for? Well, I was waiting for that question because it is Thanksgiving. But it is tough, because I don’t actually have enough time to type all the blessings that I am most thankful for. But thanks to your spiritual thought from President Uchtdorf I think I found a way.

First and foremost and forever I am thankful for my God. For my Heavenly Father and the relationship I have with him. This blessing obviously involves my Savior Jesus Christ as well, and the infinite love they have for me that I can still not comprehend.

After God, the blessing most grand and marvelous in my life is my Family. And what is even better is that this family is not a temporal blessing, it is an eternal one. And the eternal blessings and exaltation that we will receive together is a blessing that is too great to describe.

I am also grateful for the opportunity I have to serve mi Prójimo (my fellowman). The opportunity I have as a missionary right now to serve God and my Fellowman is something that I will always be grateful for.

Ya que (As) I am serving my God with all my heart might and strength, representing my family, bringing more families to the fullness and blessings of the gospel and at the same time, it is changing me to be ready to be faithful to God for the rest of my life. Really there are very many blessings temporal and spiritual that I have in my life and above all I have to thank my Heavenly Father for his love.

Love,

Elder Hardy

P.s. I love you!

P.p.s. Yes I still have the sincere tree!

June 27, 2011

Buenas Famous Float Makers!!!



La Zona

Hey that is great news to hear that everything is going as expected. (Totally knew that something special was going to happen with the float.) And I am sure that the fishing pole is going to be fine. Good luck when the news crew comes to film, you will have to tape it for me. And I am sure all 200+ people will be very blessed and satisfied with their work.

Yes, we just found out changes before coming to write and I am staying! But my companion Elder Muzo is leaving. Which is too bad but we did well together. We will have to see who my new companion is going to be.

This week we Baptized!!! Saturday we baptized 3 people, 1 familia and 1 Priesthood. The name of the family is José Molina and Maria Lopez. They live deep in the canyon, Hermana Maria has been visiting church for about a year. But because of certain circumstances she has not been able to be baptized... Until Now!!!

Her husband José has also come to church quite a bit and has made some big changes for the big day. We married them right before the baptismal service and even bought a cake for everyone to enjoy after. Also we baptized a nice girl named Paola. She is 12 years old and her family has been investigating the Church. Her Dad is already a member and we are hoping that her Mom can follow her example and be baptized someday soon as well.

Something funny that happened this week…Ummm... ha ha, well I had been thinking about buying a hair clipper a while. I reckoned that it would be more convenient to cut my own hair and I could cut my companions too and I would never have to take another trip to the barber shop. In the end it would also be a lot more economical, because every cut costs about 35-40 cords.

So last Monday I went to find one in the market and bargained down to 200 cords. For the machine, the different clippers, a comb and scissors. So that night, I cut my companions hair and he cut mine... ha ha well it actually wasn’t that hard. And we both did pretty good jobs, we just should have started off with the longest setting to see how it is and then go shorter from there... ha ha

Favorite members? Hey, as a missionary I can’t pick favorites. The Bishop is a really nice, quiet guy. The Mission Leader only has a little more than a year being a member and is trying his best. The President of the Quorum of Elders is a really nice, wise señor and has left with us a few times. But my favorite member might have to be a return missionary named Alex. He has helped us out more than any other normal member and has helped us find a couple of families to teach.

HANNAH'S QUESTION. Has there been anything crawling in your house?

Ha ha well no, nothing too terrible. Only lots of geckos, ants, lightning bugs, mosquitoes, spiders and other bugs I don’t know. But really it’s not that bad. One time there was a snake... But he wasn’t in the house. And he was pretty small too. Elder Valenzuela took a machete to the poor guy. I will let you know if anything new slithers under the door.

Sounds like everything is going good with the family.

Thanks for the journal entries dad, I will see if I can’t read them tonight. Hey you can still send notes to Elder Muzo after he leaves if you want.

The Float is going to be FAMOUS Mom. All thanks to prayers, faith and lots and lots of work. Love you so much.

Sounds good Alexis. Hey when you always say everyone loves the emails, what does that mean? Hey, when do you go on your trip again? Love You.

Hey Emilykinz, don’t worry about slaving away at the float, you are going to be famous. Luh you.

Congratulations on your talk on Sunday. You can probably type up your own talks by now right? Hey, that is cool that you stood on the float. You should stand up there with a hard hat and blue prints and act like you are directing everyone when the cameras come. Hey, is this a float that people are going to stand on or is it solo? Ps I love you.

Love you all, keep up the good work, hey, make the float into a missionary opportunity :)

Elder Hardy

June 20, 2011

Buenas y Feliz Dia del Padre, Dad!

Happy Father’s Day!

Here in Nicaragua Fathers Day is the 23rd. It sounds like Dad had a great Father’s Day. I’m glad he got a new shop vac ha ha. And that the windows are still filling up with water. You know you are going to have to figure out how to fix that before you get old... Ha ha... But it sounds like all the other gifts were neat too.

Give felicidades to the Ingebretsen family for me.

For PDay today, after 10:30 (we only have a half hour of language study now) we went to the Stake Center in Alta Gracia. There we played some basketball and futbol. And we talked the Sister missionaries into baking a cake (two cakes actually) that we then ate. We just barely got back and came straight to write.

Hey guess what!!! I got Jenny and her family's Package!!!!! And it was awesome! They sent a letter with photos of the family and of Jenny in her race. And drawings that the cousins did! She also sent two big boxes of protein bars (which have certainly mejorado our nutritional breakfast).

We also got a jar of Peanut Butter, Homemade Blueberry Jam, Some super comfy socks that we are wearing, two sweet looking ties (my comp really liked that), and a bunch of bags of really good candy. It was very nicely done. Tell Jenny and her family Muchas Gracias and Good luck with all the summer activities she was telling me about that have already started.

My comp dice, "Mas chocolate... tal vez una corbata... una nueva camera (hahaha)... un ipod touch (hahahahahahahaha (ps no we can not have ipod touches)) " But every package I have gotten has been very nice. And has seemed to been exactly what I have needed every time. But we are doing good here, happy and healthy, no hay problemas.

Hey, I don’t know if it says it on the Mission blog but we have a better address now that is better and much faster.

Elder Pop U. Lar
Apartado Postal 3527
Managua, Nicaragua

I have a future missionary experience to share. This Jueves, a very nice member family invited us to dinner. So we went and at the dinner table was sitting one of their sons. I have never met him so that says something. We started to talk to him about his life, what he is doing right now and what are his plans. He is a neat kid and knows quite a bit of English. (He works in a calling center).

Well, he must have been thinking about it a lot because he was the first one to bring up the topic of serving a mission. He said he knew he should but was really busy in life right now and has lots of plans for the future. (school, work etc.) He wasn’t sure if a mission was the right thing for him. In short. We talking to him about it and we all knew and I told him that all these things are great. But for him, going on a mission would never be the wrong choice. And his service will only make the rest of his life better than what he is planning right now.

My comp shared his personal experience about when he was thinking about going on the mission or not. Well, he prayed about it and in short, the Lord responded to him that he already knew he didn’t have to ask that question. I don’t have much time, but in short, going on the mission can never be the wrong decision.

Recipes Hannah? Ha ha ok. Well first, buy some rice.... and then find some beans... ha ha but maybe I can get a better one for next time.

Yes ma'am. Good luck. Magnify. I love you.

Sounds like a solid Father’s Day, Dad. In the ward all the kids made this cool origami white shirts and ties for their Dads. Maybe I will send you one. But I reckon that the best father’s day gift I could give you right now is to serve an honorable mission right? Love you Dad.

Good luck preparing for Europe Alexis, you know, I bet you are going to get one of those cool secret money pouches right? Well, I really like mine but I wish I could send it to you. Ha ha I haven’t used it since I left the airport. Ha ha. I just found Not Being Stupid about where I go and act and not carrying much money is better. And putting extra money I am carrying in my White Handbook. But in the sock would be better for you. And good work on the PGA pass, but how did you afford that? Ha ha. I love you.

Hey Emily! Sounds like New York was awesome!!! And sounds like you spent lots of money! I am glad you were safe. Sounds like Dad really liked your New York father’s day gifts. I hope you got a souvenir for me so we can trade when I get back... Ha ha I luh you.

Hannah, sounds like work work work on the float. But good work in talking mom and dad into going camping when it is all over. Now you just have to convince the beauty queens too. Ha ha ha Duck chucking sounds AWESOME! Next time tell dad he has to try jumping off the roof holding the duck above his head to see if he can jump farther ha ha ha. Ah and if you guys want more ducks just hit it a couple times and see what happens! PS I Love You!!!!!

Well, I got to go. Happy Father’s Day!

Love you,

Elder Hardy

June 13, 2011

Hey family,

Everything is going great. I am glad to hear things are warming up. I will pray that all the rain travels down to Nicaragua so you can work better on the float. ( I like the rain).

Thanks for the news updates. It is ok to keep sending them. But I just want to know how you find out. How do you know that Heidi Niederhauser is engaged to Todd Gardner?

Tell Michael I already knew that (about the word “Pinche”). But everyone says that here. I am going to have to be careful when I come back and want to talk to someone on the street in Spanish. Plus the Nica accent is a lot different.

Hey that is crazy that Elder T. Bright comes back in 6 weeks. How did that happen? Give him a Bienvenido from me.

No todavia (not yet) no. We are not up to our knees in mud yet. It was really a false call. Apparently it is supposed to get a lot worse in a couple of months.

4 minutes left...

Yes, this week we baptized Hermana Flor. She has investigated for a while and finally made the decision.

Yes, for service projects this week we gathered Aguacates (avocados), built a fence, mowed lawn, etc.

An uplifting experience… this is the most important part and I don’t have time. The Church is True, and the Lord will help you.

Hannah, NO! I have not seen any giant snakes or man eating fish.

P.S. love you!

Elder Hardy

June 6, 2011

Familia,

Buenas, ok so if I ever get the chance to buy a cheap MP3 I will stop being Pinche (stingy) and get it.

Sounds like another testimony building answered prayer to me with the float. I like those. I am so glad that the lady is willing to help. You are going to win the best float now too if we keep praying.

My companion? He just finished 1 year in the mission a couple of weeks ago. He is senior comp. too.

Well this week we taught a lot to our most positive family we have right now. They are really nice and are already building strong testimonies. We started a competition with them to see who could read el Libro de Mormón first. They are beating me.

So, we had their first family home evening with them Thursday. It was very nice and we even "cooked" (bought) dinner for them. Ha ha. They invited us to have a barbeque with them last night. Which was great.

But after church the sister that feeds the sister missionaries invited us to lunch at her house. And then we went home and ate lunch at our house. And I had a liter and a half of chocolate milk that was going to go bad that I had to drink too... So when we got to their house I was already stuffed. And they gave me a bunch. It was really good but I was sweating to try and finish it all. Ha ha.

Then after I sat against the wall for a couple of minutes to rest and recover we had a very spiritual lesson with them. We started with the movie of the Restoration which they have never seen. And then we asked them what they thought about the message and how they felt. The Mom said she thought it meant that José Smith was a true prophet and that the Lord restored His true Church through him... I told her that was a good answer.

We talked about praying during the night to confirm with Heavenly Father that it is true and then we answered some questions. Then we were prompted to teach about the Word of Wisdom with them and had a very powerful experience with the family thanks to a member we brought along with us.

Whenever we seem to teach them I always seem to end up talking about my family, the love and happiness I have had in my family thanks to the strong influence of the Gospel and how my parents taught me since I was very young the principles of the Gospel. So, thanks for that.

We actually have an exmissionary member who has been leaving with us about 3 times a week to go teach this family and others. He is doing a really great job.

Today as a Zone we went to the outskirts of our Zone. Pochomil. I thought the bus ride was the best part. We went through the mountains and it was all misty and jungle. Pretty neat.

Good luck with work Dad. We will start praying for you too. My companion is very excited to receive emails from the family. Thank you. He says your Spanish is fine.

I’m happy to hear that miracles are happening for the float project mom. Keep up the good work.

Have fun with your last end of school summer Alexis. Are you practicing Spanish? Write me in Spanish next time. Love you lots!

Yeah! School is out Emily! Why are you going to New York and with Who!? I luh you!

I’m glad to hear you got all of the Stickers Hannah! Now you just have to get all of the Stinking Fairies! Ha ha. P.s. I Lurve You!

Love you all,

Elder Hardy

Ah!!!! and HEY! Guess what I got Friday?! The LOST PACKAGE! Ha ha ha! I like how the date on the box said it was sent on like the 9th of February. And I received it the 3rd of June. But it came! And it wasn’t easy. Guess why it came so late? It had a long journey to get here. I found a paper in the pouch that explained the whole thing. A reroute error from Peru! Ha ha ha My Valentines package took a trip to Peru first. But it was worth the wait. A great package.

Please send a late thank you to the primary of the ward for the letter and drawings. And the Recorder Made it TOO!!! That was a great treat. I loved hearing from the whole family. That was awesome. And even a couple of friends too. Now I need to write to all of them! Too bad it took until now.

But I need to go, Love you.

May 30, 2011

Feliz Dia De Madre!!!

Ha ha today is Mother’s Day here.

That is neat that the blog has a mission now. ... ha ha reverse that. We are running late today and so I am not going to have a lot of time to write.

Ah, well yes, week before last I baptized a super kid named Marcelo. But I guess he really technically doesn’t count as mine because he is in the Sister’s area. But I got to baptize him.

No, todavia (still) no. I don’t receive the Ward Newsletter. But I did get a package from Rob!!! And it was awesome. Packed full of treats and such. I told my comp the package rule (where he gets half of whatever is in the package without knowing what was in it). But luckily, Rob was inspired and sent two of everything.

What I really liked was his letter he sent me. And he sent a cool story about a Picture of Jesus when the Tabernacle burned down. My comp really liked that story too. But hey, did you ever tell me that the Tabernacle burned down? That’s too bad. (Sue’s note: Elder Hardy is talking about the Provo Tabernacle that burned down in December 2010).

Things are great with my Compañero. And he called me over to show me the email you guys sent him. I think he really liked it, thank you.

Today I went to Radio Shack with the Zone, and I found a couple MP3 players. The cheapest one was C$899 (like $41). It was 4 GB and had a little slot to put a micro sd card. I really thought about buying it but because I am pinche I didn’t. It looked a little cheap too. I don’t know how good of a deal it was.

But maybe it would just save me a lot of buyers stress (which you know I have) if you guys could find a good one for me and send it. You have full rights to my account (especially because it is shared) and my only concern is it arriving here safely. Which more often than not will. What do you think?

A neat experience Saturday was when we went to the Ward’s Mother’s Day party. It was really good and all the Primary kids participated in different things. The best was that a few investigadores came with us to the activity. The Mom and Daughter of a part member family (the dad is member, them no) came and really liked it.

Then after, we took them to their house with another member that accompanied us. And we taught a lesson to them. The different part was that the power went out for the whole time and so we taught them on the porch in the complete darkness.

What was inspirational, was that even though everything was pitch black, I could feel the light of their spirits as they are progressing in the Gospel. They are very positive and are impressed with the Church. They have promised to come to Church next Sunday and are on track to complete their goal to prepare to be baptized by the end of this month.

Hey I am running late.

Have a good week everybody,

Love you.

Elder Hardy

May 23, 2011

Buenas!!!

Hey, I have a new Compañero! Aha, Elder Muzo! He is from El Salvador. He is very nice, and we have made some very impressive goals for this month of June that is coming. His name is Jose Muzo Martinez.  

He is a recent convert to the church. Which always earns my respect. He was baptized about 2 years ago. He was the example in his family and was the first one to be baptized. Apparently, before the missionaries showed up, he was a punk. He had the big boots and giant mohawk to go with it. But the gospel has changed his life. And what is really great is that because of his example and going on the mission, the rest of his family was baptized 4 months ago.

Also, he only took about a half an hour today to write President and then he got off the computer. He told me once that not too many people write him. It would be nice if you guys could send him an email introducing yourselves and welcoming him to the family.

Ah. So this week we found several very positive families. We have already taught them the Restoration of the Gospel and have put a goal for them to be baptized in this coming month.

We passed by the house of one of the families yesterday. Her husband wasn’t home and they couldn’t go to church, but, we asked her if she had read the LDM (El Libro de Mormón, Book of Mormon) and prayed and she said yes.

Then we asked how she felt, and she said she felt really peaceful. We read with her the Fruits of the Spirit in Galatas (Galations). And she felt that it was an answer to her prayers.

For Changes I sat with my "Father" Elder Coj. (Sue’s note: Your “Father” is the senior companion that trains the new missionary “Greenie”). But as far as fun activities, not too much. President has really cut down the time at changes so we can get back to our area and work.

It is rainy every day now! It hasn’t rained super hard but the climate has definitely changed.

No package from Uncle Rob!!! Apparently Aunt Jenny has sent a package too! I will wait con esperanza (with hope) for their arrival.

Well, that is good to hear the rainy season has come there. So this time the car trunk flooded, but how about the window sills? I can’t remember if I cleaned the rain gutters last summer.

Hey Dad, sorry it rained on your golf outing.

That is great to hear that Highland Rugby is still following its tradition! But sad to hear Coach Gelwix is retiring. He was a good coach.

Congratulations Emily and Hannah on your piano recitals.

Hey, I have a paper President talked about in Changes with 101 ideas for the missionary work. I wonder if I could scan it and give it to you. I asked Pres. after if I could get one. And the next day, he sent it with a couple of office workers.

Apparently, I was the only one who asked him about it and he was very impressed haha. I will think about using your steroids analogy with an investigator who is doubting the LDM (BOM) ha ha.

Hahaha Alexis, Dad is taking a running class with you? That is awesome Dad! You have inspired me to do better exercise in the mornings, thanks! And good luck, Alexis.

Yes Emily... Driving here is Crazy!!! Be careful. And don’t try to act like you need to get a job to buy a car. I know what little sisters are like. Dad at least has to do a 50/50 deal or something. I wish I could see your interesting Spanish video. Luh ya.

Hannah, I think there are movie theaters here. I don’t know for sure. I have never actually seen one. Love you, good luck with summer!

Thanks for praying for me.

The "flotador" is as good as done now.

Love,

Elder Hardy